Re: Z39.50 character encoding

Mike Taylor wrote:

> Some kinds of object (e.g. USMARC) specify a character set, and
> others (GRS-1) do not.  Those which do, we must respect.

True, some do and some don't.

Two questions we need to answer before we go much further (and I think we
need help from the experts on these):

(1) Is is clear exactly which do and which don't?
(2) For those which "do", is it always the case that these will be
transfered according to the native character encoding or is it likely that
clients will want  records in utf-8, even in the case where the format
specifies a native encoding?

And I think (1) is the more important question. We can address (2) later.

In other words for any given format, is it always implicitly known to both
parties (client and server) whether or not the format comes with a native
encoding.  If so then our problem is simplified. But if not, then I'm afraid
Mike's philosophy "Those which do, we must respect" isn't going to work in
practice.

--Ray

Received on Wednesday, 27 February 2002 13:11:25 UTC